Students with Disabilities: Quality Candidates At Your Fingertips

Alan D. Muir, Executive Director

Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities

Sarah Helm, Associate Coordinator

Disability-Careers Office

USBLN Conference 2008

October 2008

The Statistics…• The unemployment rate for college graduates is

estimated in a range of 33% to 45% AHEAD Journal Summer 2006

• A college graduate with a disability is 8 – 12 times more likely to be unemployed than his peer without a disability

• “Employers expect to hire 8% more new college graduates in 2008 than they did in 2007, for a sixth consecutive year of significant increases.” NACE Press Release March 19, 2008

College Campuses and Disability

• Voluntary Disclosure of Disability

• Rule of Thumb is 7% to 9% of total student population represents students registered with Disability Services

• By 2010, it is projected that the population of college students with disabilities will be at or above 10%, representing 1.2 million students

Research Assumptions…

• Disconnect between Disability Services and Career Services offices on campus

• Career Services under utilized by students with disabilities

• Students with disabilities not seen by employers seeking to recruit a diverse slate of candidates

• Employers are unsure of which office to go to on campus and often become frustrated

Research Results

University

• No active “model program”

• Several attempts that ended due to funding issues and other factors

• Some DS and CS office were unaware of each other

Research Results

Employers• Great enthusiasm and recognition of need to hire

people with disabilities• Changing workforce with looming labor shortage• Disability is a new source

• More questions than answers• Where do we find students with disabilities?• When we do find students, why are they unqualified?

UTK Solution

• Creation of the Disability-Careers Office• Liaison between Office of Disability Services and

Career Services• Serve students who are registered with the Office

of Disability Services and/or are supported by Tennessee Vocational Rehabilitation• Provide services to over 650 current UTK students

Disability-Careers Office(DCO)

In cooperation with UT Career Services and the Office of Disability Services, the purpose of the DCO is to assist individual college students and alumni, with various disabilities, by providing career planning services and guidance pertaining to their specific disability related issues.

Outreach to Employers

• Career Fairs

• On-campus recruiting

• Employer site visits

• Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD)

Common Concerns and FearsAbout Entering the Workforce

• “I am scared of how the employer will react.”

• “I fear that disclosing my disability will create misconceptions in the employer’s mind.”

• “I don’t want the employer to link disability to inability.”

• “How can I disclose in a way that puts my disability in a positive light?”

• “Once I disclose, I won’t be given a chance.”

What is Disclosure?• A process where an individual reveals information

about their disability to another individual. In this case, an employer.

• A process to identify how an individual’s disability affects them and the people around them.

• An important personal decision that only the individual can make.

Students Need to Keep in Mind…

• If accommodations are needed, it is important to disclose that fact

• The ADA does not protect anyone from poor performance. An employer has every right to dismiss an employee if he/she is performing poorly.

• Disclosing the disability and requesting an accommodation at that time will not help

• Notifying an employer before negative performance issues occur is the INDIVIDUAL’S responsibility

Teaching Students to….

• Focus on employers’ primary concerns and expectations• Will you be at work?• Can you do the job as well or better than

others?• Will you bring value to the company?

• Self accommodation as a problem solving strategy

• Do you have real world work experience?• Any questions you want to add?

Experiential Education

• Students are more likely to land permanent placement with a prior internship

• Students gain knowledge of whether this career is a good fit for them

• In 2006, 92% of college hires had work experience and 76% of employers report recruiting entry-level talent as the primary focus of their internship program. (NACE)

Recruiting Tools for Employers

• Disability Mentoring Day (AAPD)

• Campus Information Sessions

• Closer relationship with one or two schools• Either with CS or DS• Identify high potential student• Groom them for a career

• The Workforce Recruitment Program

Bringing It All Together

Employers• Discovering Disability AS Diversity • How are you approaching Diversity as it relates to

Disability?

Bringing It All Together

Career Services & Disability Services• Understanding of key role as liaison between

student and employer• COSD encouraging CS and DS to reach out to

each other• Expanding the “continuum of service”• COSD encouraging greater involvement with

employers by Disability Services

The “Bottom Line”

• Students with disabilities are no different than other students in their career search

• Students with disabilities are not all the same• Expectations of students

• Effort to earn “good” grades and graduate• Realistic expectations• Self-advocacy

Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD)

• COSD is a national association of nearly 550 employers and higher education institutions focused on the career employment of college graduates with disabilities

• COSD is a resource for professionals in higher education to better prepare students with disabilities to be competitive in their career search

• COSD helps employers to create strategies to search for college students with disabilities and to successfully recruit them

• A nationwide recruitment site specifically focused on college students with disabilities at any higher education institution

• Students with disabilities register on Career GatewayTM with confidence that only COSD member employers, who are seeking to recruit college students with disabilities, will be posting jobs and viewing resumes

• Students post their resumes, browse jobs and directly communicate with employers seeking them

• Employers have a central point to find students with disabilities instead of searching among multiple schools and hoping to interview a candidate with a disability

• Employers and Students can access Career GatewayTM at www.cosdonline.org

• FULL ACCESS Student Summit for Career Exploration• Rare opportunity to network directly with

students with disabilities• 60 students invited from schools in a

specific area• 10 employers invited• One title sponsor company

• Orlando – March 30 – 31, 2008• Sponsored by the Johnson Scholarship

Foundation

• Nashville – September 21 – 22, 2008• Sponsored by the AT&T Foundation

• 2009• Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, AR• Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, MD

COSD Employer Sponsors AIGAT&TAetna

Blue Cross Blue Shield of MassachusettsErnst & YoungExxon Mobil

Lockheed MartinMerck

MicrosoftMotorola

NordstromProcter & Gamble

SunTrustWal-Mart Stores

COSD Higher Education Members Adelphi University

CUNY – Baruch CollegeGeorge Washington University

Ohio State University Rice University

San Jose State UniversityUniversity of Arkansas

UC BerkeleyUCLA

University of IllinoisUniversity of Kansas

University of MinnesotaUniversity of TennesseeUniversity of Washington

Virginia Tech

Presenter Contact InformationAlan D. Muir, Executive Director

Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD)The University of Tennessee

100 Dunford HallKnoxville, TN 37996-4010

865-974-7148E-mail: amuir@tennessee.edu Website: www.cosdonline.org

Sarah Helm, Associate CoordinatorDisability Careers Office (DCO)

The University of Tennessee100 Dunford Hall

Knoxville, TN 37996-4010865-974-6860

E-mail: shelm1@utk.edu Website: http://career.utk.edu/dco